The Transcend RDF8 USB 3.0 Card Reader is a compact USB3 memory card reader, and for anyone using a USB cable or a USB2 memory card reader the additional speed offered by USB3 is worth using. The card reader is available for around £11 with free postage from Amazon UK.

Transcend USB 3.0 Card Reader RDF8 Handling and Features

The Transcend USB 3.0 Card Reader is a compact, neat, and black USB 3.0 memory card reader, making it easy to transfer photos from your memory cards without having to connect up your camera with the USB cable that came with your camera. Excellent if you've lost your camera cable, or if your camera battery is flat, and it also means you don't need to worry about whether you need to install camera software, particularly useful for if you're on the move or using a different computer or laptop.

One thing you will need to get the full benefit of the USB 3.0 card reader is a computer or laptop that supports USB 3.0 - these are normally shown with a blue rather than black USB socket. If you only have USB 2 then the card reader will work at USB 2 speeds which can be roughly 3-4x slower in use.

Included with the USB 3.0 card reader is the RecoverX recovery software, as a free download, which will help recover accidentally deleted photos from memory cards. A USB 3.0 cable is provided with the card reader, and the connection is on the back, where there is also the Sony memory stick slot. On the front is the microSD, SD and CompactFlash slots. The device is extremely compact and lightweight making it very easy to take with you.

Transcend USB 3.0 Card Reader RDF8 Performance

We use CrystalDisk to test the read and write speeds for a number of memory cards, with the read speeds being most important for a memory card reader as you'll want to get the photos off your card(s) as quickly as possible. As you can see below, the speed differences between using this as a USB 2 card reader and connected as a USB 3.0 card reader are noticeable, with CompactFlash speeds over 3x quicker.

When connected as a USB 3.0 device: The Transcend gives quicker CompactFlash read speeds, and very similar write speeds when compared to using the Lexar card reader. The Lexar gives quicker read and write speeds when using SD cards. When using MicroSD cards, the Transcend is significantly quicker at reading and writing.

When using USB 2.0: The Transcend gives quicker or very similar speeds for CompactFlash, or SD cards, however, when using MicroSD cards, the Transcend gives quicker read and right speeds.

Value For Money

The card reader is available for around £11 with free postage from Amazon UK. Roughly half the price of the Lexar 25-in-1 - and if you don't need the ability to read XD and M2 cards, then the Transcend is excellent value for money, especially as it comes with free recovery software. For anyone who needs to recover photos it would be worth the price alone just for that.

Transcend USB 3.0 Card Reader RDF8 Verdict

The Transcend USB 3.0 Card Reader RDF8 is an excellent USB 3.0 card reader that does what it says on the tin, it provides high speed read and write times when used with USB 3.0 and it also provides good performance when used with a USB 2.0 computer. It comes with free recovery software, which could be worth the price alone if you lose any of your photos. The only main downside is the short USB cable, which can make it difficult to position the memory card reader anywhere other than on top of or next to your computer.